Bottle from Mane Liquor. Pours a dirty dark brown with a thick beige cap. Nose is full of dark fruits, caramelised brown sugar, juicy plum and sweet biscuit. Almost shortbread like in taste with plenty of christmas cake fruits and juiciness to it. Very brown sugar forward. Spritzy carbonation could be dulled down a little. Solid stuff

Pours copper with a large fading head.
Nose shows prunes, milk chocolate, soft coffee notes, dried fruit, and more chocolate. Pretty amazing-smelling.
More coffee and cocoa as flavours along with hot booze, almost cognac-like, and some golden syrup..
Carbonation is insanely high.

Nice dark copper appearance (with bits of gunk floating around) would get more points if it wasnít for the excess of foam that tried to flood my kitchen. Nice strong ale, with a great balance between that sweet touch of decaying fruits, the orange bitterness and the high alcohol. I wouldnít have recognised the accent, not even whether it was continental. It might as well have been a nice strong English ale.

Silly me. I have had each of the preceding JPís but never reviewed them. In fact, this seems to be the case with a number of Emersonís beers, which I can assure you is not a commentary of my approach to this brewery. The beer is consistently good and I have confidence that despite the recent buyout by Lion, the quality will still remain at the extremely high standard prior to sale. Richard Emerson is not silly enough to compromise on his own good name. Anyway, this beer:
Hazy russet amber colour with a lively cream coloured head. It was actually bordering on volcanic when it came out of the bottle. The aroma is of old orange peel, rich, earthy caramel and candi-sugar, basement and almost musty over-ripe lemon. This is not a fault, actually youíd have difficulty believing that this wasnít brewed in Belgium. It is lively and orange-like in the mouth with full prickly carbonation. There is a definite twinge of bitterness that prolongs the ripe Belgian ale flavours. In fact, the authenticity of this beer goes as far as having the small dark greebly bits that have seen in the heads and at the base of the glass in other Belgian-style ales. It isnít my favourite style, but it is a style I enjoy and will spend time on. A good nudge and I find it remarkable that this brewer enjoys constant success in a massive variety of styles. Well done.

A classy offering from Emersons. Hazy dark orange-brown appearance with huge dense white head that leaves a "Brussels lace". Nose of caramel, cherries, raisins, candy sugar, soft peppers and alcohol. Taste is restrained sweetness with a spicy hop finish that lingers. Alcohol in there as well. Medium-full bodied with a thickish tingly mouthfeel. Rather reminded me of a Kwak. Sampled from a 500ml bottle in Dunedin NZ.

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